Falling into the Disney Rabbit Hole! - A first family trip - Feb 2020

[Isabelle12345]

Now, on a real-life note, we had a crazy week last week where we all got the flu... boy was it painful to get out of bed! And on top of that, both kids got to be treated for an ear infection so they will be on antibiotics for the next week...they should be clear in 3 weeks but this has brought down my energy levels to zero... I am at least hoping we can get rid of all the viruses before we leave, and hopefully work won't be too crazy and I will be able to do all the packing and last minute errands in time!

My parents are getting very excited for the trip!
The kids are also loving looking at the Birnbaum book for kids, and watching all the classic Disney movies to remind them of some characters they are less familiar with!

We have pre-ordered our meal for BOG, all the Magic Band orders are sent, and we received the Disney Magical Express letter last week... this makes it so real! Less than 3 weeks before the trip!

 

[DLo]

Hope you are all feeling better soon . My mom gave my boys ( now 25 and 22 ) the Birnbaum book every year before our trips . We drove so it was part of entertainment for the ride down.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Hey, just coming back to the boards now just a couple days before your trip.

BWV will be awesome, I promise!!! We enjoyed the pizza window and walking around to Hurricane Hannah's, it just depends on your mood.

All of your plans look great. I know you're going to have so much fun. Good luck!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Ok, here are my very last minute suggestions:

Buzz Lightyear at RD, then
Dumbo
Under the sea
FP 9:10-10:10 Meet Ariel at her grotto
Depending on the time, maybe meet Gaston?
It’s a small world
FP 10:10-11:10 Enchanted Tales with Belle
FP 11:10-12:10 Peter Pan

Gaston can get really bad. If you're going to fit him in, I'd do it right after Ariel. Send adults to the line, change the kids into their BatB outfits in the bathroom, then do this before Enchanted Tales. Small World is usually an easy FP pick up or you could standby between Enchanted Tales and Peter Pan. Less backtracking, too.

Then we would go on and meet Olaf (hopefully with a reasonable line) - or should I do that before our 9:25 FP?
and then go see the 10:30 Frozen Sing-Along
before going back to TSL for AS2 FP

I'm not sure how the character meets in this area have gotten since RotR opened. I know we wanted to do it first thing on our HS RD day but they don't meet in the rain, so that plan got scrapped. I would plan to RD the characters, use the TSMM FP, then either Olaf or Frozen Sing-a-Long depending on how your timing is to get to the 10:30 show. Definitely don't try to go TSL-Olaf-TSL. Way too much walking.

(maybe Swiss Family Treehouse, Tom Sawyer Island, shows, etc... any suggestions?)

My girls adored Monster Inc Laugh Floor and Philharmagic. Both are usually just a wait until the next show and it's an indoors, air conditioned wait.

 

[Isabelle12345]

Ok, here are my very last minute suggestions:




Gaston can get really bad. If you're going to fit him in, I'd do it right after Ariel. Send adults to the line, change the kids into their BatB outfits in the bathroom, then do this before Enchanted Tales. Small World is usually an easy FP pick up or you could standby between Enchanted Tales and Peter Pan. Less backtracking, too.



I'm not sure how the character meets in this area have gotten since RotR opened. I know we wanted to do it first thing on our HS RD day but they don't meet in the rain, so that plan got scrapped. I would plan to RD the characters, use the TSMM FP, then either Olaf or Frozen Sing-a-Long depending on how your timing is to get to the 10:30 show. Definitely don't try to go TSL-Olaf-TSL. Way too much walking.



My girls adored Monster Inc Laugh Floor and Philharmagic. Both are usually just a wait until the next show and it's an indoors, air conditioned wait.

Thanks for taking the time to reply! We are leaving tomorrow, so excited!!!

thanks for the comment about Gaston. I will definitely get in line right after Ariel. If we can’t do small world after Enchanted tales we will try to pick a fastpass Right after lunch.

My plan for TSL is now to skip rope drop altogether. I have found a 8:05 Bon Voyage breakfast reservation so I plan to do that before heading to HS. We will hop at night if wait times are reasonable and I will set my expectations lower to not be disappointed if we don’t get to see them all (and maybe wait a little longer in line if needed!)

it’s also a good tip for Philarmagic, I‘ll try to fitit in when wait times are too high! I am not sure my kids would enjoy Monstrrs laugh floor since they are French speaking (my son speaks English at school but probably wouldn’t get the jokes...)

thanks again, I can’t wait to get there!! I hope we will have a great time!

 

[Isabelle12345]

We are back from an amazing trip!
We had a wonderful week full of character meets (lots and lots of them!!!), great meals, lots of first times and new experiences, unfortunately this week also had much more crowds than we were expecting but we still had a great time!
i will be starting a trip report soon but just wanted to say THANK YOU to this board! Had I not know what I knew, we would have had a terrible week, but after reading so many posts I knew how to avoid crowds and make the most of our time! My DH and family were impressed on multiple occasions!
See you soon for the trip report!

 

[noodle73]

Glad you had a great trip! Looking forward to hearing all about it!

 

[Isabelle12345]

I have started a trip report: « Look mommy, Tinkerbell is not sick anymore! » A February 2020 first family trip report, you can find it here:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/«...bruary-2020-first-family-trip-report.3795411/